Holyrood, made browsable
Government accountability
Written questions only — average time-to-answer per minister, slowest responders, and the oldest still-unanswered questions. Oral questions (FMQs, portfolio, topical) are answered in the chamber and excluded here.
Oversight metrics
How quickly ministers answer
Written questions only. Oral questions (FMQ, portfolio, topical) are answered live in the chamber — they don't carry a written reply timestamp, so they'd skew the "unanswered" count.
Written questions submitted
1,872
Answered
1,869
Unanswered
3
Avg time to answer
13.0 days
Most-answered ministers
| Minister | Answered | Avg days | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gillian Martin | 273 | 13.1 | 1–37 |
| Neil Gray | 184 | 10.3 | 1–29 |
| Jenni Minto | 165 | 12.0 | 0–25 |
| Fiona Hyslop | 155 | 12.2 | 1–30 |
| Ivan McKee | 139 | 14.2 | 5–132 |
| Mairi McAllan | 97 | 14.0 | 1–58 |
| Angela Constance | 96 | 15.3 | 1–32 |
| Tom Arthur | 91 | 11.7 | 1–31 |
| Jim Fairlie | 73 | 12.8 | 1–30 |
| Shirley-Anne Somerville | 71 | 13.4 | 1–29 |
| Mairi Gougeon | 66 | 10.7 | 6–26 |
| Jenny Gilruth | 63 | 14.3 | 1–31 |
| Shona Robison | 55 | 16.2 | 1–58 |
| Ben Macpherson | 47 | 16.3 | 1–35 |
| Kate Forbes | 46 | 11.3 | 0–28 |
| Richard Lochhead | 40 | 12.4 | 1–28 |
| Angus Robertson | 40 | 16.9 | 6–41 |
| Maree Todd | 38 | 13.0 | 1–26 |
| Siobhian Brown | 36 | 11.2 | 4–29 |
| Natalie Don-Innes | 31 | 11.6 | 1–22 |
| Kaukab Stewart | 27 | 11.2 | 6–26 |
| Graeme Dey | 24 | 13.5 | 7–28 |
| Dorothy Bain | 8 | 17.4 | 13–21 |
Slowest to answer
Min. 20 answered questions in scope.
- Angus Robertson 16.9 days · 40 qs
- Ben Macpherson 16.3 days · 47 qs
- Shona Robison 16.2 days · 55 qs
- Angela Constance 15.3 days · 96 qs
- Jenny Gilruth 14.3 days · 63 qs
- Ivan McKee 14.2 days · 139 qs
- Mairi McAllan 14.0 days · 97 qs
- Graeme Dey 13.5 days · 24 qs
- Shirley-Anne Somerville 13.4 days · 71 qs
- Gillian Martin 13.1 days · 273 qs
- Maree Todd 13.0 days · 38 qs
- Jim Fairlie 12.8 days · 73 qs
- Richard Lochhead 12.4 days · 40 qs
- Fiona Hyslop 12.2 days · 155 qs
- Jenni Minto 12.0 days · 165 qs
Oldest unanswered questions
| Question | Asked by | Awaiting | Days outstanding |
|---|---|---|---|
|
S6W-42811 To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the request from the Scottish Reta…
submitted 05 Jan 2026
|
McCall, Roz | — | 129 |
|
S6W-43778
submitted 17 Feb 2026
|
Boyack, Sarah | — | 86 |
|
S6W-44327 To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what progress has been made towards revi…
submitted 12 Mar 2026
|
Ruskell, Mark | — | 63 |